As he winds down a decade-long gig as Global National anchor, Kevin Newman is stirring the pot with a pair of arresting documentaries.

Airing Wednesday at 10 p.m., No Country for Animals challenges Canada’s record as a rights haven in light of rampant mistreatment of food animals. The program combines undercover footage of the abuse of captive animals destined for slaughter with disturbing images from puppy mills, interviews with activists, and data comparing Canadian legal standards with some American and European jurisdictions to make its point.

Newman narrated, co-wrote and co-produced the documentary, directed by Karen Pinker in a partnership between Canwest and 90th Parallel Productions.

“My wife and I had a friend who works for the (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) out in Vancouver and she always complained that all of these investigations that occur, they work their tail off, they get charges finally, they get the evidence and the vast majority of the cases of animal abuse are dismissed by courts,” he said by phone from Ottawa of the impetus for the project.

“We looked at the percentage of animal abuse cases that get convicted in Canada: 0.01 per cent. I can’t think of another crime where 99.9 per cent of people charged with it get off. So, something is wrong with the law. It hasn’t changed since the Criminal Code was written in the 19th century and it treats animals as property, as having no more rights than a table.”

The film impels improved standards for food animals, which are currently allowed to be transported up to 52 hours without food or water.

“Are we willing to give our food animals the rights of a sentient being if it means we have to pay a lot more for steak?” Newman pondered. “The viewer has to decide: ‘Am I willing to pay a lot more for meat and have it less often, if it means the animal had a better life?’”

Last week, Missing the Target premiered, delving into the gun debate ahead of the likely dismantling of the gun registry this fall. The program focused on the plethora of illegal U.S. handguns winding up with Canadian youth and the increase in related deaths, such as the high-profile slayings of Torontonians Ephraim Brown, 11, and Jordan Manners, 15. Newman said he hoped to broaden the debate beyond controlling guns in the hands of legal gun owners.

“We’re so focused on the weapons themselves, the other thing is how much attention are we paying on why young men, primarily, turn to the weapons, the issues of power, the social issues. I was struck by the fact that there was one man in charge of an anti-gang program in the Jane-Finch corridor. A lot of money is spent on security, on catching weapons, which is good, but almost no money seems to be flowing into asking the question ‘Why is there a market?’”

The documentaries were the third and fourth of the six part Revealed series that began in 2007 with investigations of our role in the Afghan war and the rise of Christian fundamentalism in Canada.

“In daily news, you get used to following a story incrementally, you never step back and look at the big picture enough,” said Newman. “For me, it was an opportunity to identify stories and things that I saw as trends in the country that were being under-reported and look at them over a period of time.”

He expects to have the final instalments on wrongly accused crime suspects completed by December.

“I hope I can keep doing this, but it’s up to me to sell myself,” said Newman, whose last Global broadcast is pegged for Aug. 20.

“I have no job to go to and I’m not talking to anybody. I decided at this stage in my life the best thing I can do is rest and recharge and then when I feel that way give it all I have to whatever comes next. The opportunity may be in traditional media as it makes the transference, or the opportunity may exist in non-traditional media.

“I’ve still got lot of energy to chase opportunity, I just need the ability to have a little more clarity of where that opportunity is.”

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